Venus transit: probing the thickness of the planet atmosphere | Angelo Gambino (Universita` degli studi di Palermo)

One interesting question regarding the interaction between stars and planets and the birth of life is how the planetar atmosphere shields the stellar radiation. In particular, we expect that high energy radiation less penetrates into the planetary atmosphere. One implication is that, in principle, the planet should appear larger in a stellar transit observed in high energy bands. Venus transits might be excellent testing grounds to study this effect. The Venus transit of June 2012 has been monitored in great detail by solar spatial missions, and in particular by imaging instruments on-board Hinode and Solar Dynamics Observatory. We apply a statistical and photometric technique to measure the radius of Venus during the transit in three different bands: optical, EUV and X-rays, and show the results…